Output > Export & Output

The "Export and Output Options" dialog box contains options for displaying other information besides the default area and perimeter calculations. Perimeters can be exported as vectors and fire behavior parameters are exported as raster files. Both types of files can be displayed in FARSITE or used in other applications such as a GIS or image processor.

You must select your export and output options before starting the simulation. All vector and raster output files are optional.

English or Metric Units

The Display Units radio buttons select English or metric units for the graphs and tables from the Output > Graphs and Output > Data Tables commands.

The File Output Units radio buttons select English or metric units for the raster or vector file outputs.

Vector Files

A vector file contains the vertices of each fire polygon. You can output vector files in both ASCII vector and ArcView shapefile formats. Using the "Export and Output Options" dialog box you can select either or both formats of vector output files. With both file formats the fire perimeter vectors can be produced at all time steps or just the visible time steps (see Model > Parameters). A check mark in the Visible Steps Only check box is the default, clearing this check box causes vector output at all time steps.

To output ASCII vector fire perimeter data first check the Select ASCII Output Name checkbox which brings up a "Select Vector File" dialog box. Enter the filename for your output files and click the Save button. FARSITE will attach the proper file extensions automatically.

Then select the output format and other options shown below.

ARC Ungenerate Format

The output file extension for ASCII format files is .VCT with a default output format of ARC UNGENERATE ASCII. These can be imported to GRASS using the v.in.arc command. Note that this is a "LINES" file; no polygon labels are created.

The identifier for each line or polygon in the ARC file has information on the Time (6 digits) in minutes after ignition and Fire Number (5 digits) for the fire perimeter in the simulation. The following are examples of the format used in version 2.0:

00003000001 (30 minutes, Fire 1)

00012000002 (120 minutes, Fire 2)

Optional Format

An optional vector file format can be selected by checking the Optional checkbox. This file will contain for each X and Y fire perimeter coordinate (Easting and Northing) the time of arrival. Optional fire characteristics selected for output (using the checkboxes for raster output files) will also be included as additional columns. A blank row will be inserted between the data block of each polygon. The following column format and order is used, although the actual columns contained in a data file will depend on your selections:

East North ArrivalTime FLIntensity FlameLength SpreadRate Heat/Area Crown Direction

ARCVIEW Shapefile Format

Shapefiles are the native data format used by ArcView. The format consists of 3 files (.SHP, .SHX, and .DBF). They are binary files but are completely portable between Microsoft Windows and UNIX operating systems, meaning that they can be created and viewed by ArcView running on each system.

To output your fire perimeters as a shapefile, select the ArcView Shape File Format check box and enter a filename. You can select to output only the visible time steps or all time steps determined by your Model > Parameters.

You can select to output fire perimeter features of the shapefile as lines (arcs) or polygons.

Raster Files

Selecting the Select Raster File Name checkbox brings up a "Select Raster File" dialog box.

Enter the filename for your output files and click the Save button. FARSITE will attach the proper file extensions automatically.

A raster file will be produced for each fire behavior parameter selected in the raster file group. All of the eight types of raster output files will have the same name, they will be differentiated by the file extension. You must make your raster selections before you run the simulation; the rasterizing is done progressively during the simulation (see Raster File Generation in the Technical References) and cannot be performed afterward.

The default output format is GRASS ASCII (indicated by the check mark in the GRASS check box of the output dialog box) for import into GRASS using the r.in.ascii command. You can also select an ARC/GRID ASCII file for import to ARC/INFO, ArcView, or Spatial Analyst.

A fire time-of-arrival raster file will always be produced for GRASS and GRID ASCII output. Raster themes containing fire behavior characteristics can be produced by selecting the appropriate check boxes. These raster themes are distinguished by the extension added to the filename (see Resolution below). All attributes are computed for the center point of each cell (see Raster File Generation in the Technical References).

Resolution

The resolution of the raster file can be set between 1 and 200 meters using the resolution slider. The default setting when the "Export and Output Options" dialog box is opened is set to the resolution of the Landscape (.LCP) File.

The resolution of the raster output files does not have to be the same as the original landscape resolution. Finer resolutions require more calculation time and produce larger data files.

The Default button will reset the resolution to the original landscape resolution.

The X and Y Resolution can be set independently for GRASS files but must be identical for GRID files.

Files with the following extensions will be produced:

Raster Theme DOS Filename Extensions

Default raster values are set to -1. All raster outputs are natural precision decimal values. Use the optional mult= specifier for the GRASS r.in.ascii command if increased precision is required when importing to GRASS. (i.e. r.in.ascii input=testdata.toa output=testdata mult=10).

Optional File Format

The Optional File Format check box selects an ASCII file format that contains columns of fire behavior values (depending on your selections) by raster coordinate (East, North):

East North ArrivalTime FLIntensity FlameLength SpreadRate Heat/Area Crown Direction

The Easting and Northing for each attribute in the optional format above is the coordinate of the "lower left" or "southwest" corner of each cell.

The following table shows the units for each of the output parameters:

Log Files

Checking the Create Log File(s) For Outputs checkbox will generate log file for your raster and vector file outputs. A different extension will be appended onto the base file name for vector files (LGV), shapefiles (LGS), and raster files (LGR). These files contain information on the simulation inputs, parameters used, and start/end times. Log files are useful for documenting the contents and simulation background for each raster or vector output file you've created.